Really interesting history of rhetoric, that argues that rhetoric and poetics are inextricably combined from Hesiod to Cassiodorus, with Isocrates as a kind of lynchpin of the whole thing.Well-written and carefully explained, the book doesn't require specialist knowledge. Also to this layman the book's thesis was very convincing.

This book is the weakest in the series but still very readable.My only other comment as a reader in the UK is that occasionally the supposedly English and Scottish characters start talking in American - which kind of destroys the illusion if you know what I mean.

Both JM Roberts and Steve Saylor are writing a series of historical mysteries set in the same late republican era of Rome. While Roberts is not as good a writer as Saylor, either in his prose or in his individuation of the characters, in my opinion he has a more interesting perspective. By this I mean, firstly, that he takes the mores of this period on its own terms and does not bring in spurious late-20th-century sensibility as Saylor does; and secondly, that as he has become more confident in the genre his stories have diverged more and more from traditional mysteries/adventures into stories which place the protagonist into situations which explore the underlying stresses of the society in which he operates. An example is a later book in the series (currently only in German), "Revenge of the River Gods," where the hero must investigate a case of corruption in the building industry. As the story unfolds, the hero discovers that the theatre in which he is about to stage the annual games is a death trap, and the persons responsible include his own family. This is quite a different type of story from anything any of the other Roman detectives currently on the bookshelves might be given by their authors. While the earlier books in the series contain some errors, Roberts has evidently continued not just to research but also to think about this period of history and (unlike Saylor) he wears his learning lightly.

Here is the text of an email I sent to the feedback at Wrox which explains my position (will probably wrap wrongly but hopefully comprehensible nonetheless):I'd like to express my disappointment with this book. For a book which is meant to be used as a reference it has the following deficiencies: 1. Not only have classes been left out according to the author's priorities (which I will dispute later), but methods that use these classes are then omitted. e.g.. ClassLoader is omitted and then also getClassLoader() is omitted. If you are using the book as a reference for a given class, you can never be sure that there are not other methods that the author has not seen fit to mention. This is _really_ bad for a reference book. 2. In a reference, it would be much easier simply for the classes to be organised alphabetically within package. Instead, the author makes an effort to organise the classes topically, which is just confusing in a reference book. The same applies to the methods. Instead, it would be useful to have a brief topical index of classes at the start of each package and of methods at the start of each class. 3. The omissions are supposedly to save space. Instead, why not leave out the pointless examples. I can simply flick through the book to find pages and pages of examples that for a book supposedly aimed at experienced programmers are wasted space. Here's just one where the book has fallen open. The program on pages 424-425 could be eliminated and simply the example line of output shown. Further, where people need examples on a particular topic, e.g. java.net, they will normally have bought a book for this purpose anyway. 4. And while I am looking at these pages, why are pages 413-434 headed "6.2.1 Button Class" when they should be headed "6.1 Component Class"? "6.2.1 Button Class" doesn't start until page 436. This just seems typical of this book. 5. The layout I also find hard to use. Simply, my eye doesn't go to what I need which need. For instance, for each class I want to see: - Constructors - Class (static) variables - Class (static) methods - Instance Methods I did wonder if 2-colour printing would help but actually I don't think that's necessary. It's simply a bad layout and could be vastly improved with better design and typography. For example: The class names are in quite a weak font, whereas their subheadings - constructors, methods are in a strong, bold font. This should be the other way round. 6. Finally, contents. Inevitably this will be contentious but I have found (too late) that vast tracts of stuff that I use is not there. My preference would have been to: - eliminate all the examples to make space - complete coverage of java.* packages - move javax.* to a supplement. But what I feel most strongly on this topic is that packages should be included or omitted in their entirety, as noted in my first comment.